


Never Leave This Bed

by DGCatAniSiri



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-18
Updated: 2015-07-18
Packaged: 2018-04-09 21:45:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4365305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DGCatAniSiri/pseuds/DGCatAniSiri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the morning before leaving for the Arbor Wilds, and Cullen doesn't want his lover to leave.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Leave This Bed

There was noise coming in from the courtyard, and Cullen tried to ignore it. Soldiers were preparing to move, the captains issuing orders, the armor and weapons being readied. There was even the repeated sounds of Leliana’s birds cawing as they left Skyhold, issuing orders for the Inquisition’s forces far from the fortress. He burrowed into the sheets, pulling his partner closer. For the first time since the Inquisition had formed, perhaps even since Kirkwall, or even Kinloch Hold, every part of Cullen cried out to ignore his duties, to remain in bed for just that much longer.

He felt Malcolm stir, and gently began kissing his neck. “It’s fine, love,” he murmured, even as he continued to attempt to meld their bodies together. 

Malcolm didn’t resist the pull of his lover keeping him close. But Cullen could feel the tension entering his shoulders as he recognized what morning meant. He knew it was inevitable that Malcolm would be getting out of the bed. When he did, that would signify that it was time to get ready to march, for the Inquisition to go to war. And he simply wasn’t ready for that.

“Go back to sleep,” Cullen said softly, wanting this to be the order that Malcolm would obey, as if Malcolm had ever taken orders in the time they’d known one another. He gently placed a hand over Malcolm’s heart as if it could keep him in place. The gentle heartbeat was a reminder of why he wanted to keep Malcolm here, in this room, in this bed, in his arms. 

He could tell that Malcolm was smiling at the act, at Cullen’s refusal to let him move. “I think I’m the one who gives you orders, Commander. Isn’t that how this whole ‘chain of command’ and ‘Inquisition’ business works?” Cullen pictured the sleepy grin that must be on Malcolm’s face. He didn’t want to open his eyes to see it just to prevent what was going to come when he let the day start.

“Let me have this one,” he said in response, even knowing the futility of the request. 

Abandoning the pretense of sleep, Malcolm rolled over, allowing him to greet Cullen with a thorough kiss, wrapping his own arms around Cullen. It told Cullen of Malcolm’s own feelings about remaining in bed, how the other man would gladly remain here until the end of the world if he could.

It was simply that he was destined to do something to prevent that end. And preventing it would give them more time together. If nothing else, that was a goal worth fighting for. But it didn’t make the desire to remain any less so, and both were aware that preventing that end was not mutually exclusive with death.

“I want you to stay,” Cullen said softly, resting his forehead against Malcolm’s. 

“You know I have to do this,” Malcolm responded. Cullen could hear how much he wanted to agree, but they both knew he wouldn’t. It was part of why Cullen loved the man in his arms.

Cullen nodded gently. “I know. I just... I have given so much, to the Chantry... to the Inquisition... Is it so wrong to want to keep you near, to not risk losing you being taken from me?”

Malcolm’s kiss was soft, one of his hands coming up to gently brush Cullen’s cheek. “I promise you, Cullen. I will return to you. I wouldn’t dream of leaving you.” 

And it was true that Malcolm Trevalyen had survived so much that would have killed others in his place. Malcolm may have given up faith in the Maker, but Cullen still thought of him as divinely blessed. If anyone could make it back from the Arbor Wilds, from facing Corypheus head on, he knew it would be Malcolm. 

It was the ‘if’ that worried him, however. 

Reluctantly, Cullen knew it was time to let them both prepare for the journey. The Arbor Wilds were some days away. While Cullen would be traveling with him and the Inquisition’s forces, there would be little time for them to be more than the Inquisitor and the Commander, not Malcolm and Cullen. He loosened his hold on Malcolm, to allow him to get out of the bed. He needed to head down to the barracks, do the rounds, all the things that his duty entailed. 

“I suppose that means that I should get to my duties as well,” he said. The more he hesitated and waited, the longer it would take to remove himself from Malcolm’s presence. They had their roles to play. He was the Commander of the Inquisition’s forces, he was going to be busy commanding the troops as Malcolm went after this eluvian of Morrigan’s.

As he began to shift and sit up, Malcolm’s hand reached out and grabbed his wrist. Cullen would have let Malcolm pull him back, pull him into an embrace, perhaps even made love to him one more time had Malcolm tried. Mercifully, Malcolm knew him well enough that he was just holding Cullen in place instead of acting as the temptation he knew he could be.

“Cullen. We’re both making it back from this. As much as I’m promising you, I want you to promise me as well. We will be back here as soon as we possibly can.”

Cullen smiled at his lover, placing his hand over Malcolm’s. “I promise you as well, then. When this is over, you and I will be back here.” Both of them let their touch linger before they let go, both of them needed to get their clothing back on. It wouldn’t do to greet Corypheus’s army stark naked.

The dressed in silence, the weight of what they were about to do on them both. Though they had no need to bother with discretion, Cullen figured he should leave first. He had more practical duties that needed to be tended to before they departed for the Arbor Wilds. The Commander of the Inquisition’s forces needed to be there for inspections, not to mention the various bits of paperwork and last minute assignments that remained. The Inquisitor was more than a figurehead in practice, but at times like this, the role was more ceremonial than it was something that gave him clear duties. 

As Cullen began to make his way to the stairs, Malcolm grabbed his arm once more. “Cullen?” he asked softly. “I love you.”

Cullen smiled and turned to give Malcolm one more gentle kiss. “And I love you as well.”

They would both make it through this, Cullen swore. No other option could be possible.


End file.
